Activity 7: Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Collaboration

What fascinated me about the concept of ‘interdisciplinary studies’ is that it has been around since the 1920s (Mathison & Freeman, 1997), and appeared in the 1930s with advocates attempting “curriculum integration through joint teacher planning and block scheduling” (Jones, 2009). This really doesn’t sound that different to what we strive for in our classrooms today with the introduction of pod/collaborative/MLE (the list of names goes on...) teaching, and our range of integrated-curriculum inquiry models!  A common thread in support of this type of teaching and learning is that the skills learnt transcend curriculum knowledge. The greatest benefits of an interdisciplinary approach are that it encourages group work, synthesising information and disciplines, collaboration, participation, a sense of community and personal growth; it requires skills to adapt, analyse, organise and interpret information; and it can ultimately foster independent, confident individuals who develop life-long learning skills (Jones, 2009; Mathison & Freeman, 1997). Time and time again these concepts crop up in my reading, and on this blog, as incredibly important 21st century skills needed in the workforce and society. These ‘soft skills,’ as described in this article on the Newsroom website, are what employers want, and many school leavers don’t seem to have.

The question arises: what are my interdisciplinary connections? Who are my interdisciplinary collaborations with in my practice? Who could they be with?

I found creating this map of My Connections rather challenging; I doubted I could make many connections, so the number of connections I made surprised me. In Primary teaching we are, by default, interdisciplinary - we teach all subjects, and we constantly seek guidance from those that have a superior or expert knowledge of a curriculum area when we are teaching it, or we contribute our own expertise to others. For now, my near future goal for connection and collaboration continues to be the TLIF (Teacher Lead Innovation Fund) team. This team is responsible for inquiring into our practice through investigating whether teaching Growth Mindset concepts to our students can increase student resilience. Our innovations are around the teaching techniques, activities, practice and assessment of this. Joint planning, decision-making and goal-setting is a big part of working in this group. Because of this we have scheduled meetings throughout each Term to plan and discuss progress. Our practice within the TLIF team aligns with ACRLog Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration: we have common goals and we have common emotional qualities in that we are open, honest, willing to learn, and trust in one another’s competence.

This type of teaching and learning truly excites me - where learning is integrated, connected, socially based and inquiring. In my busy (busy, BUSY!) Year 3 classroom, this is the best way of including the Arts, Sciences, and Physical Education into the (Reading, Writing and Maths dominated) programme. There is so much language, culture, and connection to our world that is tied up in these disciplines; and exploring these creates an excellent platform for developing the so-called ‘soft skills.’ And yet, it can be a challenging way to teach with Ministry (management, and parent) expectations around student achievement and the dreaded Standards.

References:

ACRLog. (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration

Grieveson, L. (2017, July 2). Lack of ‘soft skills’ holds young Kiwis back. Newsroom. Retrieved from https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/07/02/36854/a-neet-problem-to-solve

Jones, C.(2009). Interdisciplinary approach - Advantages, disadvantages, and the future benefits of interdisciplinary studies. ESSAI7 (26), 76-81. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai

Mathison,S.. & Freeman, M.(1997). The logic of interdisciplinary studies. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf